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The Destroyer
"The Destroyer" is the 58th episode of Once Upon a Virus. Summary Joe cannot comprehend the resurrection of his old friend Natalia, thinking that the whole thing may be some sort of trick by Jdg98 who, at the same time, makes good on his promise to kill people in order to accumulate more power. Forward through time and Joe is the primary carer for his baby sister Juliet, unable to remember his time as the savior, or, as he's now starting to feel, the destroyer. Plot A small baby is crying on the side of the road, lying down in the backseat of the white car she's being driven in. Joe is the one changing her diaper with haste, telling his little sister, "Come on, Juliet, we have to keep going." He tosses away her dirty diaper as he makes sure that her fresh one was secure, and when she doesn't stop crying he finds himself picking him up so that he can soothe her in a hurry. "Shhh," he attempts, "Shhh… we have to keep moving because… because… because…" He appears to have confused himself, and eventually mutters, "Because we do." Finally, he clips her back into her baby seat and gets back behind the wheel, continuing to drive. Months earlier, and Joe is still in the bar, sitting across from MaryPierceLopez as Rena, Lady (Julietfan too) and Liz sit around him. "Well…" he incurs, and all Natalia can say in response is, "There's a battle coming… a big one." "Fine, whatever; you're not even telling the truth, so…" "Who says I'm not telling the truth?" she asks, a little insulted, and Joe insists, "You died. I watched you die. You were in my arms, and I watched as the light faded from your eyes. I felt your body go still. You were dead." "Then, yes," she nods, "But I'm real now." She reaches out her arm for him to touch, but he refuses to do so, simply saying, "No… get out." "Joe…" Lady Junky steps in, then telling her old maid that she doesn't have to go anywhere. "Fine," Joe declares, "I will. Have fun doting on Jdg's latest weapon." He storms out of the bar, to their dismay, and Liz is the one to attempt to diffuse the awkwardness he leaves behind. "So," she brings up, "What are we gonna do about those three big Mantizoids outside?" She and Rena are next seen leading the giant bug creatures into the town stables. "You're going to be sleeping here until we need you," Rena tells them, "You're not to alert anyone to your presence. You're our secret weapon, got it? Whatever impact you're able to make, at least we'll have the element of surprise on our side." The Mantizoids nod as they file into separate stable stalls, and Liz asks if the stable hands who come here every now and again won't be cause for some alarm. "Nah," Rena tells them, "I got my perception filter spell on them. Hopefully they should just go... 'unnoticed'." "Ah," Liz replies, nodding. As Rena locks up, he asks the sheriff if she has any idea where Joe might be hiding, and she replies that she doesn't, explaining that she's just not as close to him now as she used to be. They begin to leave, entirely unaware of the fact that Joe was listening. He is hiding behind one of the corners created by the stable's wood, and he waits until Rena and Liz are gone before he grabs a shovel and wanders off with it. Joe, with Juliet in the backseat, can be seen pulling up next to a small Boston house in the future, which bears a "SOLD" sign pegged into its front lawn. "Well, Juliet," he says, looking at his sister via the car's rear-view mirror, "This is home now, I guess." He exits the white vehicle and opens the door Juliet is closest too, unbuckling the actual baby seat as he removes it, able to carry her around by a handle attached to the seat itself. "It's a good thing we had so much insurance left over after that fire at our last place, huh?" he comments as he approaches the front porch with her, after having locked up his car, "I mean, this place is pretty nice." Juliet just gurgles with what could be construed as a smile on her face, and her big brother tells her, "I agree. Now let's go check out the inside." He one-handedly opens the door, impressed by what he sees, and then notices all the locks on the inside, meaning that this place is very securable. "We'll be safe here," he tells his sister, "Nothing is ever gonna happen to you. You don't have to worry about fires or anything horrible like that ever again. That I will make sure of." Her face is definitely smiling now, and he looks down at her, smiling back. He then crosses the threshold to his new home. Julietfan2626 is crying in the present though, and Lady realizes that she probably wants her blanket, knowing that it's in the backroom. She asks if Natalia could take her while she goes and gets it, and the former maid agrees, taking the baby into her arms as Justine gets up. However, as soon as Mary begins to rock the little girl back and forth, the crying stops, and Justine is amazed at how her old friend managed to accomplish that so quickly. Natalia shrugs as best she can with the baby in her arms, and Justine deduces, "You're just a natural, I suppose." "Yeah, well…" Natalia comments, "If only all your children trusted me as much." "Joe will come around," Justine assures, "He just needs time. He's been through a lot lately and… he's pretty traumatized. It's understandable that he'd be paranoid with all that Jdg98 has pulled." "I have experience with Jdg," Mary recalls, "But you… you and Rena trust me? Just like that?" "You were my maid for years, I know you when I see you," Justine smiles, "And may I just say how great it is to have you back… I really missed you." "I missed you too," Mary smiles, giving Julietfan back to her mother, "But I feel entirely weird… back here… so out of place." "Perhaps you should try visiting your old apartment?" the beautiful blonde suggests, "Never know what kind of feelings a familiar setting might trigger." Natalia considers this. The door to her apartment opens, meanwhile, as Joanna helps a covered-up Rachel inside. "Are you okay?" the Blood Wiccan asks her limping wife, and Rachel assures her, "Yeah," as she's parked on the nearby couch. "Let me inspect you," Joanna says, "You have some cuts that didn't heal when you reformed from blood." "They'll be fine," Rachel tries, seeming depressed, but her wife tells her, "I was a pretend nurse for twenty-one years, I know what I'm doing." The former genie eventually just gives in and lets Peep do it, and the latter declares, upon seeing her honey's bleeding forehead, "That's kinda nasty. You stay where you are, maybe throw on some clothes from your closet but don't overexert yourself, I'll head to the hospital and fetch some first aid supplies." "Don't be too long," Rachel begs, "I love you." "I love you too," Joanna smiles before heading out the door. Once she's gone, Rachel finds herself trying to stand up. It hurts, but she manages, and she feels that the blood on her face is dried as she heads to her bedroom. She opens the closet, and pulls out a simple outfit, shedding Josh's tablecloth as she slowly puts it on, taking Joanna's advice and not overexerting herself. She then heads back to the couch, and the door begins to open. "You're back already?" she asks happily, surprised when she sees that the person entering the apartment isn't her wife… but her old friend, Natalia Grant/MaryPierceLopez. "Oh," she says, disappointed, while Mary shuts the door and happily utters, "Dlrgirl75…" "It's Rachel now, shouldn't you know that? You know everything about me, right?" "What…?" Natalia asks, confused, and Rachel adds, "Well you're a vision, aren't you? Like the kind Joanna got of her daughter. A figment of my imagination. A major life-altering experience and I'm seeing ghosts, great…" "Dlr— Rachel," Mary tries, but the former genie just adds further, "If you're here to answer any prayers, forget it. I'm not worth saving now." She curls up, depressed, and Natalia sits next to her, stroking her back as a sign of comfort. Rachel flinches, and then she realizes… she could feel it. Natalia is solid. Tangible. Real. She looks at her; into her eyes. "Mary?" she utters, and Mary smiles, repeating, "Rachel." "Mary!" Rachel yells, flinging herself onto her old friend in a hefty embrace, full of tears from both ends. "I'm so happy you're here," Natalia weeps with joy, "I thought I'd never see you again." "Nor I you!" Rachel exclaims, then leaning back to fully appreciate what she's seeing. Her friend… resurrected. "How?" she asks, "Wait, you can tell me later, let's hug again!" They do exactly that. It's safe to say that Rachel has been pulled out of her deep post-rape funk. Right now nothing could bring her down. "I can't believe this," Rachel continues in rejoicing mid-hug, "I mean, I was sure you were dead and gone forever." The names MaryPierceLopez and Natalia Grant can be seen engraved on the one stone within Storywik's graveyard, amidst the many other people who have died of late. Joe is staring at the grave, shovel in tow… and then he starts to dig. In the future, further than before, Joe is reading a fairytale to Juliet on the couch, turning off the TV just as they're about to link the five-month-old case of the massacre at Faneuil Hall to the mysterious disappearance of famed supermodel Selena Tice, whose popular perfume "Witch's Brew" has recently been discontinued. Once it's off, he proceeds to finish the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with the line, "And the two of them lived happily ever after," but with the addendum as he stares down at his now-sleeping baby sister, "… just like us." He shuts the book and kisses her on the forehead, going on to place her in her crib. Once she's good and settled, he goes to put the book of fairytales back on the bookshelf in the living room, only to cause an American Atlas to fall to the floor by cause and effect as he does so. He sighs as he bends down to pick it up, and it falls open to a certain page within his grip, almost as though it's forcing its way there. He looks down at the map of Maine, and his eyes become drawn to the word "Storywik" dotted in the corner. "Hmm…" he comments, and then… it fades away. The dot, the word, the whole piece of land just… evaporates off of the map. "What the hell?" he questions, continuing to stare at where this town was situated in the state. He keeps the Atlas open on the coffee table as he grabs a pen, proceeding to circle the area which disappeared and write the word, "Storywik" back where it was. Joe, with Juliet back in the backseat of his car, is next seen pulling up next to where Storywik used to be, seeing nothing but forest as far as the eye can see. He looks to the passenger seat, where the Atlas lay open with his markings on it. "This should be it," he tells his baby sister, before getting out of the car and assuring her that he'll be back presently. He takes a step on the pavement which used to be his whole town, apparently having no memory of ever having been there before… but it's certainly stirring up a range of emotions from within him. It isn't long before he spots something in the dirt nearby and, just as he's about the declare that he was just seeing things and that there really is no town here after all, he approaches it, and sees just what it is. The words "Welcome to Storywik" are evident upon the charred sign after he scraped away some filth and soot. He crouches down to take a closer look, entirely mesmerized and further confused by what he's discovered. That same Welcome sign is being pondered by Jdg98 in the present as he stands at the town line, baring his scythe. "Such a magical town in such an anti-magic world," he says to himself, "One has to wonder why those outside are so adverse to it, especially when it can bring such glory… as I'm about to prove." He touches the sign before beginning to storm away, and we next see him approaching Storywik General Hospital, immediately beheading an orderly who stands outside before heading on inside. It isn't long before he's made it to the nurse's station, and he makes a point of standing up on the counter so as to command each and every one of the nurses' attentions – or rather, former Blood Wiccans'. "Wiki Witches of the West," he announces, "So brimming with power yet so unwilling to use it. You were all Wiccans once but… you gave it up to 'help' people (see "Protector of the Site")). Your magic still remains though. I can feel it. And soon? I'm going to have it." He then jumps off the desk and slices one of the nurses clean in half as he does so. The others begin to scream, trying to run away, but Jdg has created a weak and invisible wall around the area, enclosing them for the slaughter. He then jabs his scythe into another's gut, stabbing the one beside her at the same time, and gets one directly in the heart. One of them attempts to conjure red lightning to fight back against him, but they are rusty and he is able to just sever their hands before they accomplish anything. "Good," he says, "Use magic." With a smile on his face and a song in his heart, he pierces this woman from her naval to her nose, then jauntily slaying all the rest of the former witches. It isn't long before he's entirely surrounded by women's bodies and their blood, which also covers his smiling face. He then takes a deep breath, and little lights are seen floating out of their corpses and into him. His dull eyes flash a brighter purple when it happens, and he can feel new magic surging throughout his body. "Oh this is nice," he says, using his magic to reform one of the nurse's bodies. She sits up, looking scared and completely alive, and Jdg laughs, before using his powers to draw the light out from her, into him, and cause her to explode in another violent bloody mess. "But not enough," he adds as he breaks down the invisible wall and drags his bloody scythe back out of the hospital, killing the few people who get in his way. Joe, meanwhile, has made headway in digging up Mary's grave. He continues to take shovels full of dirt and throw them onto a nearby accumulating pile. Finally, he hits something hard at the bottom, and he begins using the shovel to scrape the muck away from the wooden top of her coffin. He then just jumps in, crying, and moves it manually with his own hands, covering himself in filth as he does so. Then though… he opens it… and Natalia's rotted but still recognizable corpse stares back at him. "I had a theory that I might find you here," says Natalia, now swathed in clothes found at her old apartment, and Joe looks up to see her standing over the grave he's now crouched down in. He makes it to his feet as she offers him her hand, but he doesn't take it. He just looks from her, to the dead her, to her, to the corpse again, and he implodes into tears. Joe continues to drive as Juliet makes a minor fuss in the future, and her brother assures her, "It's okay, sweetheart. We just have one last stop to make." He is next seen pulling up outside his old "home" – the house belonging to Mike and Gabrielle Kahn. "Good," he says, noting the empty driveway and lack of lights in the window, "Looks like no one's home." He steps out of the car and takes Juliet's baby carrier with him, knowing the lock of this door well enough to be able to pick it with relative and covert ease before he enters. He is surprised to see that the entire house is pretty much empty. No expensive furnishings or ornaments… it's like no one's lived here for a long time. "Huh…" Joe utters before proceeding down the hall, to the basement door. The very room he used to live. He takes a deep breath, looking to his baby sister for reassurance, before heading on inside, proceeding down the creaky wooden steps with extreme caution. Once he's able to turn on the light, therefore somewhat soothing the about-to-cry baby, he's able to see his old bed, on top of which is a pile of torn-out pages from Atlases. "I used to collect these," he recalls, "I always dreamt of getting away… to anywhere. When I finally left I just circled a random place on a map of Maine and…" Joe suddenly sees it, the beaten page that he took with him to Storywik (see "The Savior") lying solitary on the bed, the word "Storywik" encircled in the corner of Maine. "What on Earth…" he manages to utter before the page itself fades away, not having been in this room for some time. "What's going on here?" he wonders to himself, trying to rush up the stairs as fast as he can while remaining safe with the child he's carrying, "And where are the Kahns?" he wonders once he makes it up the stairs. He slams the basement door behind him which breaks the bolt which used to be used to lock him in. Joe begins searching for a phone in this empty place before just taking out his cell. "How can you be here… and there…" asks Joe of the present, going steadily insane as he looks between the resurrected MaryPierceLopez and the moldy dead one. "You're an illusion, plain and simple." "Joe just let me help you out," Natalia begs, still extending her arm, but he continues to not take it. "I'm not touching you," he declares through his tears. "Do you not remember my story? How I resurrected myself? I didn't come back from the ground like a zombie, my consciousness found a new body! Like… a snake shedding its skin or… trading in your old used Mercedes for a brand new one!" "Sounds kinda far-fetched if you ask me," Joe shakes his head. "Yes, it is," Natalia laughs, "But it's what happened. It's my story and it's part of who I am now." "No…" Joe utters, "This is who Natalia is," he points down to her dead body, "She died in my arms, and then she was gone forever." "Not forever," she weeps, "Just… a little while. And I've been helping you all this time. Reinstalling your psychic blocks…" "You didn't the last time. Last time Josh had to kill himself…" "I heard," Natalia nods, "But you were in Storywik, a place I couldn't witness from where I was. Please… just get out of that damn grave." "No!" he yells, to which she rolls her eyes and declares, "Fine. Then I'm coming in." With that, she lowers herself down, dropping onto the edge of her own coffin, opposite Joe. "Why are you so reluctant to believe that it's me?" she needs to know. "Because!" he yells, "Natalia is the one who convinced me to be the savior, and I'm not a savior anymore!" "What?" she asks, confused. "I'm not a savior, not with everything that's happening…" he cries profusely, "People dying, my friends getting attacked, me doing nothing… I can't feel like a savior with all of that. If anything I feel like a… like a… like a destroyer." "You're not," she assures. "I am!" he screams back, "You'll see… I'll destroy Jdg's newest creation!" And with that, he pounces, pushing her by the throat to the dirt wall of the grave and beginning to strangle. Joe is on the phone in the future, telling a certain someone where he is and requesting that they get down there right away to discuss a few things with him. He is then seen waiting after hanging up, wandering the house where he used to live but was never allowed to explore, and thinking how much more full of life it appears now than it did when those two evil tyrants were running things. And then the person he called finally arrives, ringing the doorbell, and he answers it to his old social worker Samantha Silver, beckoning her into the living room and sitting down on the couch which was left behind, placing the baby carrier safely on the floor. Samantha sits opposite, asking what's going on, and Joe says that that's what he'd like to know. "Joe I've been worried sick about you," he says, "You ran away as soon as you turned twenty-one and no one knows where you've been and now…" she takes notice of the baby, "You're a father?" "Brother," he corrects, "Juliet… is my sister." "Sister? You mean you found your birth parents?" she asks, astounded, but he tells her, "No…" in a confused way. She wonders how he knows that the baby is his sister then, and he tells her, "I, um… just know," as though it's the most obvious thing in the world to him. "Well how did you find her?" Samantha goes on to wonder, but Joe exclaims, "I'm the one who wanted to ask the questions!" "Fine, okay, go ahead," she encourages, "What do you wanna ask?" "What happened to the Kahns?" he voices, and she tells him, "After you left, their child support checks stopped coming and they had to move someplace cheaper. I have their address somewhere here, I thought you'd like to know so…" she goes rooting through her purse and eventually digs out a slip of paper, handing it to Joe. "That's where they're living, last I heard. A small Boston house." Joe is shocked when he sees it, "But… but… that's where I'' live… ''I bought that place for me and Juliet after my old place burned down." "Old place?" Samantha questions, "Where did you used to live?" "The city," he replies. "What city?" Joe finds himself shrugging, which Samantha finds odd, and he finds himself then needing to change to subject, though not really knowing why. "How am I living in a house that was bought by my ex-mom and dad… unless… I'' never did buy it, I just… Oh, my God." "What is it, Joe?" "Have you ever heard of a town called Storywik?" he wonders, "In Maine?" She shakes her head, and he utters, "Great… great…" He then stands up and lifts the baby carrier, knowing Juliet will need her bottle soon. "Joe you seem a tad traumatized by… something. Maybe that fire you mentioned? I could… refer you to a therapist. If you're suffering some sort of PTSD then you really shouldn't be the sole carer of a child." "No!" Joe yells, "I'm fine… thank you for your time, Ms. Silver, it's been very helpful." He then dashes out of the house as quickly as possible, getting the baby seat back in the car and then driving away. "Sit tight, Juliet," he whispers, "We're going home now. This has all just been some sort of… trick." "You're just a trick, you're just a trick, you're just a trick!" Joe roars as he continues to strangle Natalia, and she chokes at him, "No… I'm not… Joe… please…" "Just a trick!" "It's… me…" "Trick! Trick! Trick!" "Look… at… me…" "Trick…" he murmurs one last time before looking into her oh-so-genuine eyes, and then he backs off, relinquishes her throat and allowing her to breathe deep and steady herself. "I can prove it to you," she promises. "How?" he wonders. "By doing the same thing I did to get you to believe me the first time around… you can read my mind; my memories. Experience it all for yourself!" "No, I can't!" he exclaims back at her, "Jdg did that! He was my magic, and now he's gone! I was only able to do that by allowing him to bleed through temporarily…." "Well just try it," she implores. "It won't work," he promises. "''JUST TRY IT!!!!" she screeches, "You just strangled me up against my own grave and I'm still trying to help you so can you just do this one thing for me, dammit!" "O… okay," he utters, and the both of them take another much-needed deep breath. She closes her eyes and beckons him to place his hands either side of her forehead, which he does reluctantly. "Now… just like last time…" she says, "Focus." And despite knowing that this isn't going to work, Joe focuses anyway. He focuses very hard, indeed wanting to believe that this is the genuine article, but… Suddenly the flashes begin. Joe sees Natalia in that room of blue light, watching as a Virus takes over Wikia. He then sees her squeeze herself into a new body, waking up as a resurrected woman. He then sees her finding UFO Editor, and witnesses an unseen interaction between the two regarding the restoration of endings. And then he sees her get the Wand of Antiquity, and go flying through the sky thanks to it, crash-landing down in Storywik. When the flashes end, Joe steps back in shock. "There…" she says with a smile, opening her eyes. "It… it's you!" he exclaims, hugging her, and she hugs him back, "It's really you…" She nods in the hug and the two of them shed tears. "Now what do you say we get out of this grave?" she suggests. "Sure," Joe agrees, and then, "Wait." "Wait?" "How did I do that… I… I don't have magic…" "Well," says Natalia, "I guess you do." "Where did it come from though?" "No idea… but I'll help you find out." The two of them share another hug. Joanna is seen entering the hospital, wanting that first aid kit. She is notably still wearing her white wedding outfit, not having had the chance to change out of it yet, and she becomes weary with all the lights off at the hospital… and then she makes it to the nurses' station… and she gasps. "Girls!" she exclaims before screaming an inhuman scream, "Girls!" She rushes to one of their aid, but it's no use. They're all torn apart and entirely lifeless. She cries over them, and then she looks to her right, seeing the dead body of Emma Seer lying nearby. Her throat is torn it, just like it was all that time ago. It's not really there of course, but as she's surrounded by all her old dead coven, horrible memories swarm Joanna's head… including that of her daughter's death. She cries further as Emma's imaginary blood mixes with the witch's. Emma's face remains plastered on a poster in the future, below the word "WANTED" in big red letters. As Joe returns to his normal life, at the supermarket with Juliet sat in the trolley, he notices this poster on a bulletin board, and approaches it curiously. "Emma…" he utters, managing to recognize, before taking note of the number to call, then proceeding to checkout. "Well, that was the policeman," Joe is telling his baby sister after having called the number and heard what the other line had to say, "Apparently Emma was never found; they discovered where she was living and then… she had just disappeared. They don't know if she continued on the run or… or what, but… she's presumed dead. Can you believe that?" Juliet just gurgles and Joe smiles at her before giving her the bottle, cradling her sweetly in his arms as he provides her with sustenance. "Whatever," he says, "It doesn't matter. All that matters now is that I take care of you. I'll forget all about Emma, the Kahns… and Storywik…" "Welcome to Storywik". The sign remains charred and half buried in soil, but someone is taking note of the track marks left behind by Joe when he came by to inspect it. This person then stands up, still staring at the sign, and we see that it's Natalia Grant/MaryPierceLopez. "Don't worry, Joe," she vows, "I will find you." Category:Season 5 Category:Episodes Category:Joe-Centric